Just ordinary people that have finally had enough, of being lied to, bullied, and accused !

The Red White & Blue - The Annual "DO" (2003)
The Annual DO! - 2003 and 2002

Really wonderfully brilliant!

Record attendance at RWB 2003

Over 1500 BNP members and supporters, as well as curious members of the local electorate passed through the gates of the British National Party's annual family festival, the Red-White and Blue. The warm summer sun shone upon us once again in our adopted venue near Sawley in East Lancashire.

Avenues of neatly laid out tents, families preparing breakfast barbeques, a veritable forest of national flags and the sight of children playing carefree greeted those arriving on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Spectacular set of events

A greatly increased number of regional stalls and displays were evident offering cultural information, raffles, competitions and selections of locally produced foods and drinks; even an owl sanctuary which proved to be a great crowd-puller.

Three decades of British nationalist activities have, albeit unintentionally, marginalised our very own women and children, with political rallies in the past witnessing a dominance by male participants. The RWB Family Festival sweeps away that old, counter-productive style of doing things. Our event was carefully designed to be fun and equally attractive to men, women and children.

There was a "Crazy Jungle" funfair ride for the kids, an impressive bouncy castle incorporating a giant slide, paddling pool and the first ever women's discussion group and all manner of craft activities including tie-dying, art classes and demonstrations. There were football and paint-ball contests, a regional tug o' war, clay-pigeon shooting, darts and archery enjoyed by all ages and both male and female.

Mixing work and pleasure......

The people that make up the BNP realise that the task ahead is a daunting challenge but that challenge can be met head on with both determination and our uniquely British sense of humour under adversity. One of Saturday evening's highlights was the "RWB Newsnight Special" with Group Development Officer, Tony Lecomber and well respected political writer, Jonathan Bowden, playing the part of two typical "liberal-left" TV political reporters putting some of our prospective election candidates through their paces. Laughs all round but underlying this was the very serious aim of getting our candidates used to having to respond to "interrogation" by the usually very hostile media. Our candidates are in most cases new to the political scene and unused to dealing with the media who deliberately set out to discredit our noble aims and "booby-trap" our sincere candidates with difficult questions. This exercise demonstrated how to deal with even the deadly duo of "Lecomber and Bowden" whose thorough and hostile questioning would have put Paxman to shame!

Saturday evening saw a choice of entertainment. While some newly formed bands were playing their own work and covers of rock classics and patriotic ballads in the Big Top, a karaoke session was taking place in our newly acquired marquee which could comfortably seat over 250.

Professional entertainment was yet again provided by "Playing with Insanity", the unique 'Doc Madness' with his fire eating style of magic! His zany new act involved putting his face onto a towel covered with broken glass and being stood upon by two heavyweights. He emerged without a scratch!

A spectacular musical firework display lit up the entire Ribble Valley in time to classical music. What a show!

Notts based "Stigger" once again displayed his talents as a song-writer, singer, guitarist and crowd-worker that makes him the undisputed king of the British patriotic ballad scene. He treated the crowd to two encores.

Sunday....funday

Sunday continued the theme of combining fun and serious political activity. While paint ball teams were battling it out in the lower fields and toddlers were being entertained in the creche, there was a workshop from Eddy Butler revealing the secrets of running an effective council election campaign. There were speeches from some of our newly elected councillors and we had the signal honour of being addressed by Jean Michel Girard, the Foreign Affairs Director of Jean Marie Le Pen's French Front National.

Chairman's blistering speech Click !

Party Chairman Nick Griffin entered to a rapturous applause from over twelve hundred pairs of hands which he thought would not stop. He signaled repeatedly to the audience to sit down but such is the collective respect and admiration for the one person who has helped change the political face of Britain that it was several minutes before he was able to start his speech. Mr. Griffin's effectively and inspiringly answered the question "what does it meant to be British"? Not so long ago, being British was something worthy of pride, something that the entire world over knew was good, wholesome and revered. That a Briton's "word was his bond" was something that 300 million Indians respected and gained from during the colonial period. The concept of an all encompassing nanny and very authoritarian state was something that was abhorred by our fathers and grandfathers. Today the State pokes its dirty and unwelcome nose into every aspect of our lives. To be British meant having the honour of having a stiff upper lip, to live in a place where a man's home was his castle. We have descended a long way from the heights of Imperial pride, but hope remains. The people of these islands are made of stern stuff and we have a powerful passion for righting wrongs. We have a passion to fight this rotten corrupt regime that turns white Britons into second class citizens. The BNP seeks to convert that passion into power.

Then, as the crowd filed out of the Big Top, 1,000 BNP balloons sponsored by Oldham BNP were released to float away towards Yorkshire on the light westerly breeze. Our spirits rose with them- the British National Party is on the way up, and the success of RWB 2003 is the dramatic proof!

Appreciation

It would be simply great if we could pay tribute to the superb efforts undertaken by all those who made this event possible. Space and time prevents us from doing this. Very special thanks to Peter and Diane from Clitheroe for setting up the licensed bar. Thanks to Bev Jones, recently appointed volunteer North West Regional organiser, to Richard and Kevin, the two 14 year old lads who did the job of two adults to keep the event running smoothly, to Warren and his dedicated team of stewards, to Jackie Griffin, the Chairman's wife and to Wayne Cox who undertook such sterling work in the days leading up to the event. Finally thanks to the farmer and landowner, Mr. Barnes and his family, who uniquely made this event possible and helped out in so many ways.

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